Air conditioner construction for automotive vehicles



Dec. 2, 1958 J. c. HOIBY ETAL 2,862,652

AIR CONDITIONER CONSTRUCTION FOR AUTOMOTIVE VEHICLES Filed Feb. 14, 1956 i v 2 Sheets- Sheet 1 ROBERT 4. Was-new? ATTORNEYS 2, 1958 .1. c. HOIBY ETAL 2,852,652

AIR CONDITIONER CONSTRUCTION FOR AUTOMOTIVE VEHICLES I Fil ed Feb. 14, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet. 2

- INVENTORS JAMES a x/a/ay E0852? 4. wasrewv United States Patent AIR CONDITIONER CONSTRUCTION F0 AUTOMOTIVE VEHICLES James C. Hoiby and Robert L. Westrum, Minneapolis,

Minn., assignors to D. W. Ovan & Sons, Inc., Minneapolis, Minn., a corporation of Minnesota Application February 14, 1956, Serial No. 565,403

1 Claim. (Cl. 230-56) Our invention relates generally to air conditioning apparatus and, more particularly, to improvements in such apparatus utilized in the conditioning of air in the cabs of motor trucks and the like.

An important object of our invention is the provision of an air conditioning unit in which component parts are combinedto produce a relatively simple structure which occupies a minimum of space and which is of minimum weight.

Another object of our invention is the. provision of motor including a casing and a single drive shaft having a compressor driving crank on one end thereof and journaled in bearings in the motor casing,' and a compressor carried by the motor casing and having a'crankcase containing said crank, one of the walls of said crankcase having a driveshaft receiving opening of greater size than said drive shaft whereby said drive shaft is supported only by the bearings in said motor casing.

Another object of our invention is the provision of a motor including a case and a drive shaft having a compressor driving crank on one end thereof and journaled in bearings in the motor'casing, and a compressor mounted on the motor casing and having a crankcase containing said crank, one of the walls-of the crankcase having a drive'shaft receiving opening of greater size than said drive shaft, and a fluid sealing element mounted in said shaft receiving opening and adapted to be lubricated at its opposite sides from the interior of said motor casing and said crankcase.

Another important object of our-invention is the provision of motormeans having a single drive shaft, one

end of which defines a compressor drivingcrank, and the other end portion of which carries a motor cooling fan',f a condenser fan and a drive pulley foran air circulating blower.

Still another object of our invention is the provision of a novel ararngement of a motorcooling fan and a condenser fan whereby the condenser fan not only causes movement of air throu'gh'the condenser but also aids the motor cooling fan in its function. r The above and still further highly important objects and advantages of our invention will become apparent from the following detailed specificatiomappended claim and attached drawings.

Referring to the drawings, which illustrate the inventionfand in which like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views: v

Fig. 1 is a view in top plan of an air conditioning unit built in accordance with our invention, some parts being broken away and some parts shown in section; and

Fig. 2 is an enlarged section taken substantially on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

In the preferred embodiment of our invention illustrated, a generally rectangular plate-like supporting member 1 is shown as supporting a housing 2, said housing comprising front and rear walls 3 and 4, respectively,

c 2,862,652 Patented Dec. 2, 1958 ICC opposed side walls 5 and 6 and a top wall 7. The front wall 3 adjacent the side wall 5 of the housing 2 is formed to provide an intake passage 8 through which air is drawn to the interior of the housing 2. The supporting base member 1 and housing 2 are adapted to be rigidlysecured on the roof of the cab of a motor truck or the like, not shown, but in the usual manner.

The air conditioning apparatus mounted on the base plate 1 within the housing 2 involves the several compon'ents usually employed in the mechanical refrigeration of air. These component elements do not, in them; selves, comprise the instant invention. Hence, for the sake of brevity, detailed showing and description of the same are deemed unnecessary. However, it will be noted thatthe refrigerating mechanism includes a condenser 9, an evaporator'ltl, and a pump or compressor 11. These, together with conduit means connecting the same together, and suitable valve mechanism therefor, are well known in-the art. condenser 9 extends transversely of the inlet passage 8,. so that air passing inwardly through the passage cools refrigerant moving through the condenser. It will further be noted that theevaporator 10 is situated adjacent the sidewall 6 ofthe housing and extends generally parallel thereto. The evaporator N is contained within a separate housing 12 which receives air from a fan or blower 13, the rotor 14 of which is mounted on a shaft 15 journaled in bearings 16 in opposite ends of a blower housing 17. An inlet opening, shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1, and indicated at 18, is adapted to communicate with the interior of'the cab, not shown, and through which air is drawn from the interior of the cab to the blower 13." The blower 13 circulates this air through the evaporator 10 from-whence it is conducted-to the interior of the cab through an outlet opening shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1 and indicated at 19. This arrangement, like the refrigerating apparatus generally, is well known to those thereof is believed unnecessary. a

skilled in the art, and further showing and description The pump or compressor 11 comprises a main body: 20 defining a cylindrical chamber 21, a head 22 and wall-structure defining a crankcase 23, a front wall por tion of which is indicated at'24. The compressor further involves a piston 25 mounted for reciprocatory m'ove'a andto which is conments in the cylindrical chamber 21, neted a piston rod 26.

*Mcans for operating. the compressorll r l n internal combustion engine or motor 27 including 'a'f casing or'cylinder block 28 defining a cylinder. 29 and a cylinder head 30, and-a piston 31 mounted for ref ciprocatory movements in the cylinder 29. 3A piston rod'32f is pivotally secured at its upper end to the piston 31 by means of the. usual wrist pin 33, and at its lower,

end to a crank-shaft or drive shaft 34 that is journaled in suitable bearings 35 and'36. The bearing 35 is preferably integrally formed with the cylinder block 28, whereas the bearing 36 is formed as part of an end plate block 28. The motor 27 is disposed behind the con denser 9, thecrankshaft or drive shaft 34 extending forwardly and rearwardly with respect to the base mem-":

ber 1 and housing 2.

- A reduced rear end portion 38 of the crankshaft 34 extends through an opening 39 in the crankcase wall portion 24 of the compressor 11 and terminates in a crank 40 to which isjournaled the lowerendiof the comj pressor piston rod 26whereby rotation of the ci-ank In our particular arrangement, the

shaft "34 will, impart reciprocatory movement to the compressor piston 25.

It will be noted that the opening 39 is generally axially aligned with the bearing 36 and also concentric with the-r.ear;end: -portion 38. of-the crank shaft 34- and. is of suificiently greater diameter to define therewith an annular passage. communicating. with the interior of the motorblock 28 and the compressor crankcase 23. With this arrangement it will be seen that the compressor 11 isdevoid of bearings" for the drive shaftor crankshaft 34 and the shaft 34-issupported at its rear end portion only by thebearing 36. Thus we eliminate to a marked degree. the necessity of machining cooperating portions of .thecompressor casingand motor blockto: extremely close tolerances, and provide for relatively easyassembly of the-compressor to the. motor. Inasmuch as the refrigeration system is of. the conventional so-called closed system, the crankcase 23 must be. sealed to atmosphere. Hence, we provide a fluid seal. comprising, an annular, sealing element in the form of a ring 41 that is mounted. in the opening 39 in the crankcase wall portion 24, a metallic washer 42 which encompasses the end portion..38 of the drive shaft 34, a second sealing ring 43 encompassingthe end portion 38 of the shaft 34 and inabutment with. an annular shoulder 44 defining the inner. end of the reduced shaft portion 38, a sealing bellows 45,. and a coil compression spring 46, said bellows and spring being interposed betweenthe washer 42 and the sealinggring 43. The ring 41 is stationary in the crankcasewall 24 and a fluid sealis effected therebetweenandthe housing wall by an O-ring 47'. The bellows .45 has fluid tight engagement with the metallic washer 42 and the sealing ring 43, said sealing ring 43 beingprovidedwith an O-ring 48. The O-ring equipped sealing ring 43 prevents escape of refrigerant fluid fromv the interior of the. bellows to the interior of themotor or engine block 28, whereas the compression spring, 46

thetadjacent end of the ring 41 to the interior of the,

crankcase 23. Inasmuch as the crankcase 23 and the interior of' the motor block28 contain lubricant for the various moving parts therein, both sides or ends of the sealing ring 41 are at least. partially exposed to the lubricantwhichv is splashed or otherwise fed thereto. Hence,-

the ring 41 is well lubricated at all times during operation of the, motor and compressor. The sealing ring 41 may be made from any suitable material conventionally usedfor thispurpose, and is preferably impregnated with graphiteor like dry lubricant, to insure against failure inthe event that lubricant from the crankcase 23 or the interior of the motor does not reachthe ring 41.

The front end portion of the shaft 34, indicatedat 49,,projects axially forwardly through a central opening of an end cap 50 rigidly secured to the engine block 28, and has mounted thereon a flywheel 51. The flywheel 51 is provided with a plurality of circumferentially spaced. radial fan blades 52 for the purpose of air-cooling the;

engine 27. The engine 27 including the flywheel 51 and fan blades 52 is housed'within a shroud 53 having any air inlet opening 54 thereinconcentric with the drive shaft34 and of suflicientdiameter to permit free passage, of air to the motor cooling fan blades 52. A driving on the front end of the blower shaft 15, whereby rotation of the, crankshaft 34 is transmitted to.the blowerfan14. It will be noted that the drive pulley 58 is of sufliciently smaller diameter than that of the inlet opening 54 of the shroud 53 so as not to interfere with free passage of air from the exterior of the shroud 53 to the motor cooling fan blades 52. Arelatively large condenser fan 61 i bolted or otherwise rigidly secured to the front end of the driving head 55 exterior of the shroud 53, and is disposed within the inner end portion of the air inlet 8 directly behind the condenser 9. With reference to Fig. 2, it will be seen that the motor 27 and compressor 11 are supported from the'supporting member 1 by brackets .62 and resilient supporting pads 63.

From the above it should be obvious that rotation of the crankshaft or drive shaft 34 will cause the blower ll3 to circulate air through the cab of the vehicle and the evaporator 10, and operate the compressor 11 and the motor cooling and condenser fans 52and61, respectively. The condenser fan 61 not only is effective-to draw sufficient air through the condenser 9 to cause the same to operate in an efiicient manner, but also moves the air inwardly through. the inlet-opening. 54 in the shroud 53 'at'a rate which greatly enhances operation of themotor cooling fan 52. Mounting of the crank 40- and motorcooling and condenserfans on the crankshaft or drive shaft 34 eliminates considerable transmission mech-' V anisin and power loss which would otherwise occur therefrom. -Thu-s, by utilizing but a single belt driven element andimountingthe-several other driven elements on the economy of operation is achieved.

Although we have described our aircOndi'tioningappar-atus: as being intended for use primarily in the air con ditioning-of cabs of motor trucks and the like,'it should be obvious that the same can be utilized, withoutisubstantial structural change, in the air conditioning of any desired room or chamber, or in refrigerationapparatus,

or-in any number of instances requiring the use of the components above set forth.

While we have shown and described a commercial embodiment of our device, it will be understood that the for reciprocatory movements in said cylindrical chamber;

and .a. pistonrod carried by the piston and extending therefrom into the crankcase, means mounting the pump casing to the motor block with the crankcase having av wall portion thereof spaced from the bearing in the adjacent wall of the block, said wall portion of thecrankcase having an openingtherein generally axially aligned with the bearing in the adjacent wall of the block for free- I 1y receiving an end portion of the drive shaft, said opening being concentric with and of larger diameter than the end portion of the drive shaft to define therewith an annular passage therebetween with the end portion of to impart reciprocatory pumping movement thereto upon rotation of the drive shaft, and an annular sealing element mounted in the opening of the wall portion of the crankcase and encompassing the end portion of the' drive shaft to close saidannular passage, said sealing 5 element having one side thereof exposed to the interior of the crankcase and another side thereof which is 0pposed to the said one side being exposed to the interior of the motor block whereby, the opposed sides of the sealing element are positioned to receive lubricant contained within the crankcase and the motor block.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Melcher Dec. 28, 1937 Lotz June 2, 1942 Cary et a1. Feb. 18, 1947 Kirkpatrick Dec. 7, 1948 Ritter July 4, 1950 Clark Aug. 8, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION December 2, 1958 Patent No. 2,862,652

James C Hoiby et a1.

fied that error appears in the above numbered. patent tters Patent should read as corrected It is hereby certi d that the said Le requiring correction an below.

rinted heading to the p Inc."

and .in the "D, W, Ovan & Sons,

lines 2 and 12,

In the. grant, specification, line 5, name of assignee, for D, W, Onan & Sons, Inc.

read

March 1959,

Signed and sealed this 17th day of (SEA Attest: I v AXLINE ROBERT c. WATSON I Comissioner of Patents Attesting; Officer 

